Condoleezza Rice will join biocrude producer Kior

| June 22, 2011

Starting in July, Kior Inc. will officially have access to the perspective and insight of a former U.S. Secretary of State. The biocrude developer that plans to open a commercial facility in Columbus, Miss., will bring on Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009.

“Secretary Rice has achieved immense success in many roles over the years and has shown herself to be one of the great strategic minds of her time,” according to Fred Cannon, president and CEO of Kior. Prior to serving the former President George W. Bush’s administration as secretary of state, she was the Chief National Security Advisor to Bush in 2001. Following the end of the Bush administration, Rice has since taken a role in academia, as a professor of political economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and as a professor of political science at Stanford.

Rice’s role as a board member with Kior will not be her first. She previously served on the board of directors for Chevron Corp., the Transamerica Corp., the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan and even the Charles Schwab Corp. Cannon also said, “Her expertise will become an asset for Kior, and her wisdom will help guide the company as we continue to grow.”

The company has been growing over the past year, signing several partnerships including one with Chevron-backed Catchlight Energy to use Catchlight-supplied feedstock blends in the production of Kior’s biocrude. The company has also signed an agreement with FedEx Corp. to supply the fleet with the renewable fuel produced by Kior. In April, Kior also announced its plans to issue an IPO.

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